Why other location-based technologies might steal beacons" thunder in 2016

By Alex Samuely

January 8, 2016

Beacons can be hit-or-miss for some online marketers

While beacons were one of 2015’s top buzzwords, other proximity-based targeting strategies might have their prime time this year as bricks-and-mortar sellers continue beacon pilots and discover best-response solutions for their clients.

Merchants with heavy bricks-and-mortar footprints– such as department and chain shops– have actually been participating in experimentation with beacons over the lion’s share of 2015, although some have actually run into problems with cautious customers worried about personal privacy. 2016 is likely to see more wide-scaledeployments in malls and major shopping centers, in spite of the truth that some marketers might be attracted by other kinds of location-based push alerts and offers performed in collaboration with publishers’ applications.

“For beacons, 2015 was a year of capability and use-case testing, but most importantly, a year of discovering the variety of innovations that must be integrated to recognize the true potential of beacon marketing,” said Jim Meckley, chief marketing officer of Mobiquity Networks, Garden City, NY. “Beacons will discover their location in the sophisticated marketer’s mix in 2016, and will be integrated with appropriate mobile app publisher networks, point of sale databases, and commitment programs.

“This will allow the scale and intelligence necessary to permit beacon technology to work as the crucial trigger point for location-based campaigns.”

Modifying previous efforts
Mobile marketing’s meteoric rise last year prompted more smartphone users to end up being familiar with choosing in to location-based deals. This needed them to give up a part of their individual information and distance to certain shops, however ultimately yielded exactly what numerous thought to be a valuable incentive– exclusive, time-sensitive deals or ads.

As the usage of beacons by sellers and brands to engage mobile consumers reached unmatched levels over the holiday, a current file from inMarket forecasted that proximity marketing would impact $ 7.5 billion in spending by millennials throughout this period (see story).

In addition, the expansion of smartwatches in the current market– a number of which were given as holiday gifts– could make beacon marketing easier to come by this year. However, some argue that the exact same capabilities could be performed by other geo-targeting techniques, such as advertisements delivered to consumers in a particular location.

Supermarkets are also most likely to experience more beacon deployments in 2016

One of beacons’ greatest challenges is accurately determining where consumers are situated in a shop. For example, if a brand wishes to send out a discount coupon for handbags to buyers in that vicinity, it needs to have the ability to count on beacons to distribute the deal to those consumers, rather of clients browsing for t-shirts in the next department.

This has actually triggered some marketers to coordinate with mall-based beacon options committed to driving preliminary in-store traffic. Department-specific targeting still needs to be improved.

“Lots of merchants were already experimenting with beacons in 2015, and we’ll likely see the larger players move beyond experimentation into large-scale deployment,” Mr. Meckley said. “Naturally, the majority of activity will be throughout bricks-and-mortar merchants– brands will have the opportunity to benefit from beacon technology through shopping mall common-area networks like ours, or if retailers decide to make their in-store networks offered to the brands they bring.”

Reports from ABI Research recommend that online marketers are getting ready to take advantage of Bluetooth Low Energy beacons in incredible force this year, thanks to the quantity of orders and deliveries put in 2015’s 3rd quarter. Brands discovered to have actually become part of contracts include H&M, Macy’s and IKEA.

Merchants looking for mobile success in 2016 will need to concentrate on geo-targeting to supply in-store clients with more appropriate experiences, an EKN Research study analyst stated throughout a Mobile Online marketer webinar in December (see story).

Bridging two-way interaction
Beacons may end up being more popular as an outcome of the two-way communication they offer buyers and merchants. While the technology definitely plays an essential function in fueling mobile commerce, beacons can also be made use of to reinforce loyalty program sign-ups, app downloads and in-store traffic.

Brands will clamor to hop on this bandwagon, especially as they ramp up to promote added long-lasting customer relationships and cement strong Q1 sales.

“The biggest single technology trend that will impact the retail environment in the coming year will be the increase of beacons as a progressively accepted form of digital interaction with buyers,” stated Lance Eliot, vice president of details innovation at Interactions, Franklin, MA. “Presently, many of the retailers utilizing beacons are doing so on a very refined and careful trial basis.

“Stores aren’t sure yet whether consumers will like or hate beacons,” he said. “Customers may come to hate them if they are viewed as excessively meddlesome.

“Buyers do not wish to walk into a shop and feel as though ‘Huge Brother’ has actually suddenly taken hold of their mobile phones. Nor do they desire to constantly have their shopping experience interrupted by various messages and signals telling them about unique handle the shop.”

As a result, beacon-powered messages should be attracting, however not aggressive. In 2014’s deployments have given online marketers sufficient information to tweak their messaging techniques this year, and make sure that each mobile minute counts.

Nevertheless, some professionals believe that other geo-location targeting strategies may outdo beacons if brands attempt to jump a couple of steps ahead in the knowing curve.

“In 2016, lots of beacons will fail and closed looped attribution will end up being exceptionally vital,” stated Neil Sweeney, president and CEO of Freckle IoT. “Business will desire to know who has remained in my shop– which no company can do now.

“This will be the introduction of real-time and geo-location. This will be the time for location-heavy business, finer grain area information– it’s an information play.”

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amp; amp; amp; amp; gt; Alexandra Samuely is editorial assistant on Mobile Online marketer, New York. Reach her at alex@mobilemarketer.com.

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Why other location-based technologies might steal beacons" thunder in 2016